The Boston Red Sox

Just like in every other sport, all competing teams always try to get a chance against their competition in baseball. The use of steroids, corked bats, spitballs and so on, gave teams an illegal and unfair advantage. However, it was confirmed that the Boston Red Sox seems to found a new way to use consumer technology to cheat.

The Apple Watch commercial shows people running, swimming, jumping, climbing, doing different sorts of sporting activities, but who knew the watch could also be used as a tool to cheat.

The Major League Baseball (MLB) investigators established that the Boston Red Sox who in the American League East were in first place, during several recent games, organized a strategy to steal hand-signals from their competition, the New York Yankees as well as other teams playing. Last year Brian Cashman, the Yankees general manager made a formal complaint with the league office after a video showed that the Boston Red Sox were cheating.

In the video, a member of the Boston Red Sox training staff after looking at an Apple Watch on his wrist is seen communicating a message to the team’s players in the dugout. The Red Sox players in the dugout then pass on that message to team’s players on the field. It is usually assumed to be a sign of the upcoming pitch.

The Boston Red Sox confessed to the illegal actions when the Major League Baseball investigators got substantiating proof on their video systems. They said that messages are passed by their trainers who get messages from video replay personnel and then passed the received messages to the players.

The Boston Red Sox, in a bout of gamesmanship, filed a complaint that the New York Yankees also set up a system to steal signs from other teams. They claimed that using one of their YES Network cameras, the New York Yankees steal signs. However, the New York Yankees have categorically denied this claim.

Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball commissioner has not decided on any possible penalty for the illegal acts. He mentioned that they will conduct an in-depth investigation on both claims from the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. He said they are a hundred percent sure that it is not a continuing problem.

John Farrell, Boston Red Sox’s manager admitted to being aware that the Red Sox players were unlawfully stealing signs, but was not aware that they used electronics like the Apple watch to do so. Generally, the use of electronic devices, binoculars, walkie-talkies or cameras to steal signs from the other teams is not allowed, but on the field, players are allowed to use their eyesight to gather hints and signs of the other team’s game strategy since sign stealing has been a time-honored tradition in baseball.

The Wisdom Segment

IThe EMV chip technology on credit cards has existed for more than 30 years. It was first used in France in 1986 and, later on, it was adopted and used in Germany.

IIOut of all the names of American states, there is only one that has all its letters on the same line on the qwerty keyboard. That one state is Alaska, which can be typed on the middle line.

IIIThe company that created GIFs decided to charge for their use , but in 1994 the PNG format was created and could be used without charge. Thus, GIFs became free as well.

IVThe very first camera invented could only take 4 pictures a day. This is not because the memory was low, but because it was extremely slow. One would have to maintain a position for eight hours to get a proper shot. Talk about dedication!

VUsually, people who invent things are authorities in that field. However, this wasn’t the case with Alfred Southwick, an 19th century dentist who invented the ‘electric chair’ as a method of legal execution. Just a little fact to help you with your fears of going to the dentist.

VIThe creators of the PNG file format, intended to replace GIF when it was commercialized, originally intended for the ‘PNG’ to be pronounced as ‘ping’, but fate won and everyone started calling it PNG.